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Friday, July 14, 2017

Childhood Memories of Baking with Mom

Some of my earliest memories from childhood have to do with mom's baking. It's hard to pinpoint exactly when it was that I started to show an interest in baking, but I can clearly remember standing on a kitchen chair, back in the 70s, right next to mom as she was either baking a cake or portioning out cookie dough.

Here is mom helping me with a slice of homemade cake for my 1st. birthday.

All of our birthday cakes, holiday sweets for the family, cupcakes for school P.T.A. events, and milestone celebration desserts, were made from scratch by our dear mother. Not only that, but mom was a baker to many of our neighbors who clamored for her cakes whenever they needed them.

I somehow became mom's pastry assistant in the kitchen for some of her biggest projects, such as wedding cakes. I remember helping mom mix batch after batch of cake batters or cookie doughs, tinting pounds of icing if she asked me to, preparing cake pans for baking, and adding countless sprinkles or decorative toppers to cupcakes for our holiday school parties.

The large pastry boxes which sat on top of the kitchen counter, ready to go out the door, always beckoned and taunted with their sweet icing, sugar sprinkles and whatever else mom added to them. I secretly wanted to devour those cupcakes before they even made it out the door.

Homemade chocolate chips will always be my favorite cookie.

Trips to her favorite baking supply store were a real treat for me as a kid, because I was able to learn what tools were needed for specific tasks, and which supplies made mom's baking projects effortless.

Kitchenaid Heavy Duty 5qt. mixer.

These days when I visit mom, I always request that we bake a little something, just so that I can use her classic heavy duty mixer. Mom's 5qt. mixer is so retro, and yet, it looks great in any
type of kitchen. I was lucky enough to have found one of these mixers a few weeks ago, untouched in its original box! It's perfect (👌).

I treasure the moments in the kitchen with mom, because it's time well spent. We catch up on family matters while we bake, or we reminisce about a particular event in the past. Whether I'm standing in the kitchen while using mom's KitchenAid mixer or watching her scoop out some cookie dough onto baking sheets, I'm immediately taken back to childhood.